Short and sweet follow up to Now and Then. Not sure if this is a one shot or a short story yet; we'll see. Hope you enjoy!
*Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy belongs to Shonda Rhimes and Co.
Owen quickly hopped out of the driver's seat to rush to Cristina's aid. He opened the door and supported her weight on his arms. "Careful," he warned.
Cristina rolled her eyes at his unnecessary caution. "I'm fine, I learned how to walk 30 years ago," she stated and jerked her head towards the backseat. "The two blobs in the back need more help than I do. Get Zoe, I'll get Zach." Cristina moved towards her side and prepared to open the door.
Owen cleared his throat before stating, "That's Zoe, not Zach."
Cristina shot him a look as she defiantly stood her ground. "You can't even tell from where you are. This is Zach." She opened the door and looked into the car. To be quite honest, Cristina could not tell who was Zoe and who was Zach from the tiny bodies tightly wrapped in identical ivory jumpsuits.
Owen dropped his point as he went around the car to get the travel bag and Zach out of the baby seat. He was positive he was holding Zach but decided better to keep his mouth shut than upset Cristina. He locked the door and motioned to hold Zoe as well, taking the weight off on Cristina.
"No," Cristina stubbornly held onto Zoe. "I'll hold her," she stated.
Owen silently smiled noting she had, in her own way, accepted she was wrong.
They settled Zoe and Zach in their cribs. Cristina hovered and looked intensely at Zoe and Zach's small pink face, soft curly brown curls and tightly shut eyes.
"Something on your mind?" asked Owen as he wrapped his arms from behind and gave a soft peck on Cristina's neck.
"No," answered Cristina, not taking her eyes off the twins.
Owen moved his lips from her neck and gave a peck near her lips. "It's okay to get them mixed up, Cristina," he assured. "They're twins for a reason."
Owen's words were anything but reassuring to Cristina. Owen had a natural ability to tell Zoe from Zach while Cristina was struggling to get it correct.
"But you can tell them apart," she pouted.
"I'm cheating–I've had training with the boys," replied Owen.
Cristina sighed in frustration at herself. "How do you know?" quietly whispered Cristina.
"Zoe's much bigger than Zach," Owen proudly stated.
Cristina turned around to give Owen an incredulous stare. "Seriously? She's like 10 ounces bigger. You mean to tell me you can tell when I gain 10 ounces? Geesus, I must have been a whale to you when I was pregnant."
Owen loudly chuckled. "You are not 7 pounds first of all, you irrational woman. Secondly, if you are calling yourself a whale, you are the most beautiful whale I've ever seen," said Owen as he squeezed Cristina tighter in his arms.
Another frustrated sigh escaped from Cristina. "What else?" she asked, not satisfied with Owen's answer.
"Zoe has your lips," Owen stated matter of factly, yet again.
"Yes Owen, we created them. You, me. Sperm, egg. Birds and the bees," mumbled Cristina. "Of course she has my lips!"
"Sssshh," Owen quieted Cristina from waking up the twins. "Zoe's lips are much fuller than Zach's. She has your sexy lips," he teased Cristina and gave a soft lingering kiss on Cristina's full lips that were pushed out from her pout.
Cristina separated from Owen's lips to take a closer look at Zoe and Zach. She studied their tiny pink mouths side to side. At most, Zoe's lips looked slightly swollen compared to Zach's, given their lips were millimeters in thickness. Feeling incompetent and lacking, she tore Owen's arms from her body and huffed out of the room.
"Well, you are the one who refused to allow anyone to get blue and pink outfits for them," stated Owen as he closed the door behind him.
Cristina sank lower in the sofa. "Yeah, I refuse to gender stereotype them before they can even properly open their eyes. There's a reason to my madness," argued Cristina.
"Well then they might have identity issues if you can't tell them apart," joked Owen, trying to make light of the situation. He shrunk back at Cristina's stare of death as he hurriedly apologized for his comment. "Sorry, sorry. Bad joke," and knelt on his knees to level his eyes with Cristina's and gently stroked her hair.
"I told you I would suck at this," grumbled Cristina.
"You took care of yourself for 9 months and we now have the two most beautiful healthy babies with us. You are the best mother ever," Owen sincerely spoke from his elated heart.
Realizing her lack of confidence and the constant reassurance by Owen, she mustered out a smile on her face. She grinned teasingly and twirled her finger in his hair. "I think you did this on purpose. To teach me a lesson."
Owen relaxed upon seeing Cristina's teasing nature. "And what lesson would that be?" he asked, not even bothering to take a stab at it himself. Cristina was a bag full of surprises and he was never ready for her answers.
" Well since I kick your ass at work everyday, you did this to prove you are better than me at at least one thing," she stated, making even parenthood into a competition.
"Well, thanks for the compliment," Owen replied beaming with a wide smile. "And for the record, it was never even a contest," he teased back.
"Jerk," grinned Cristina and grabbed Owen's face to wipe the smug look off his face with a hungry kiss. Just as Owen was about to deepen the kiss and enjoy some alone time with Cristina on the sofa, she abruptly broke off the kiss and got up from her seat.
"Wha-?" Owen threw his hands up in the air. "Where are you going?" he asked in a pleading tone.
"Getting the laptop," Cristina screamed from the bedroom. She returned and planted herself right on Owen's lap. Owen hugged Cristina's coiled body on his lap as he took a look at the browser. He loudly chuckled, "Forty? We don't need 20 outfits for them each. They'll grow out of it in a week."
"Smartass," replied Cristina as she changed the quantity to 10 on both the baby blue and pink jumpsuits on the shopping cart.